Emmanuel Nataf is the CEO and co-founder of Reedsy, a curated marketplace that connects authors and publishers with editors, designers and marketers. Emmanuel is a regular contributor to Inc, Fast Company, LitReactor, Electric Literature and Thought Catalog.

Use of technology is not new to education sector. Over the years, there has been concerted effort of government and EdTech firms to promote information communication technology (ICT) in schools, and colleges in India. Though the technology intervention in the form of smart classes or self-learning tools have made progress but the advancement in the technology itself like emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality are yet to take noticeable inroads into the schools and colleges in the country. However, with the proliferation of EduTech firms and traditional publishing houses like MBD focusing on these technology, possibility of big breakthroughs is quite high. Here are couple of breakthroughs technology that companies like Next Education says can change the EdTech in 2017.

Edtech, from artificial intelligence to cloud computing and augmented reality, is sweeping through the higher education sector. And as online learning providers continue to challenge the oldest and best-known institutions, the world's top business schools are racing to adopt cutting-edge learning technologies. "Innovations by vendors have led to the use of more advanced technologies such as simulations, cloud-based solutions, and AR," says Jhansi Mary, lead analyst at Technavio, the consultancy. At the forefront of the innovation wave is artificial intelligence, which has already permeated social media, stock picking and even transport. Advocates say AI can be applied in education through the tracking of students, to predict and optimize learning and performance.

When Tulsi Parida joined Newsela in August 2014, she was the 19th employee at the fast-growing New York City-based startup. During her time there, the company tripled in size and she earned a promotion. Last July, however, Parida felt an itch to tackle educational needs in her native country, India. So she packed up and moved to Mumbai, where she found work at Zaya. "My move to India was driven by my desire to see the impact of technology in education in the Indian context," Parida says. As Director of Growth at Zaya, Parida is learning how developing edtech for low-income India slums is quite different than working with American schools.

The platform is providing a holistic online solution for teachers, students, and parents. Over two decades ago, Educomp set out to change the entire education system in the country. Since then, it claims to have empowered over 30 million learners and educators across over 65,000 schools. While Educomp was continuing to overhaul the education ecosystem through its smart class programmes, the top leadership in the company realised that they needed to take education beyond the conventional classrooms. Now, instead of taking students to classrooms, they had to flip the normal course and take classrooms to students, beyond boundaries.